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The are not called locomotives, but power cars. The real difference is electric vs. diesel. I don't think there is any diesel in operation anywhere running at
by usr1106 3y ago
The are not called locomotives, but power cars.
The real difference is electric vs. diesel. I don't think there is any diesel in operation anywhere running at TGV, ICE or AVE speeds.
- rob74 3y agoWell, there is (or was) the ICE-TD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICE_TD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICE_TD), which has a top speed of 200 km/h (124 mph). I don't think it's technically impossible to have diesel trains with higher speeds, it's just that if you want speeds higher than 200 km/h, you have to build dedicated high speed tracks anyway, and then you are probably going to electrify them. The problem with diesel is more the acceleration (which can also be seen if you compare gasoline and electric cars), which restricts the number of stops, but that's not a problem for HSR.
- usr1106 3y agoI know the ICE-TD. Power is less than 2000 kW, whereas electrical highspeed trains have 4 to 5 times of that. Probably it would he impossible to build much more powerful diesel trains. But typically costs and problems grow in non-linear way.
- bobthepanda 3y agoI believe the only attempts have been gas turbine trains, but nearly all of those have been derailed by spikes in fuel prices.